Cricket 1897

90 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OP THE GAME. A pk il 22, 1897. England, has been at the Oval during the last few days, eager to get into trim for the busy season, his County, as usual, has before it. Surrey Cricket readers will be glad to learn that be is none the worse for his first experience of a South African engagement. On the contrary he looks the picture of health, so that there is every reason to hope Surrey cricket will find him at his very best this summer. T h e Captaincy of the Norfolk County eleven has been offered, so the report of the annual general meeting states, to the Eevd. W. P. G. Sandwith, on the retire­ ment of A. B. Buxton from the office. In the interests of Norfolk cricket it is to be hoped that the offer will be accepted. W. F. G. Sandwith, who will be remem­ bered by many Cricket readers as the old Westminster and Oxford Association foot­ baller, has been for some years actively identified with the management of County cricket, and will spare no pains to improve its quality in the field. In addition to one fixture, v. M.C.C. and Ground at Lord’s, Norfolk this year plays out and home matches with Northumber­ land, Hertfordshire, Durham and Cambridgeshire. T h e Surrey season is not to be formally commenced until to-morrow week, when the opening match, the County Eleven against the Next Fourteen, is to be begun. Test practice was to have started yesterday, and some twenty young cricket­ ers, including amateurs as well as professionals, duly turned up at the Oval to be put through their paces by Mr. Graburn. But the weather exercised its right of closing the innings. At least, the rain which raineth every day was in such evi­ dence throughout that there was no chance of getting to work. Under any circum­ stances the ground would have been so soft that the test would have been of little or no value. U n le ss the information to hand is un­ reliable, Warren, whose bowling proved so successful in the Derbyshire Colts match early in the week, is the young cricketer who was engaged by Hamp­ shire, and it was thought was qualifying for that county. Some of the best judges down that way had a very favourable opinion of his capabilities as a bowler. T h e nets were up on the University ground on Tuesday, and practice has now fairly commenced at Cambridge. All accounts agree in the forecast that the wicket will be better than ever this year. The Freshmen’s match, which practically opens the season, is to begin on Monday, the 3rd of May. A. E. T r o t t , the Australian, is in England again. He has already been in evidence in English cricket, indeed, very much so. On Easter Monday, F. W. Tate, the Sussex bowler, and he between them did a noteworthy performance at Lindfield, in Sussex, in dismissing a local eighteen for a total of 17. Trott took eight wickets for 11. But Tate went several better. His eight wickets, in fact, only cost one run. C. W . W r ig h t , of Notts fame, was the recipient of a very gratifying presenta­ tion at Wollaton in anticipation of his marriage. It took a triple shape, con­ sisting of a silver table-service from the tenantry of the Wollaton Estate, a box of silver dessert-knives and forks from the workmen in the Estates’ Office, and a spirit case from the Basford Board of Guardians, of which “ Charles ” is a member. Cricket joins heartily in the congratulations to a deservedly popular sportsman. T h e coming visit of the Philadelphian cricketers recalls the fact that less than twenty years ago the American news­ papers found it necessary to explain, as best they could, the points of the game for the benefit of their readers. The Detroit Post and Tribvne, in 1879, before a match between the local eighteen and Daft’s eleven, seemed hopeless of attempt­ ing to explain byes, &c. “ It is easy enough to understand what a run is, or when a man is bowled out or caught out, but such technical phrases as ‘ byes ’ and ‘ leg-byes’ and ‘ no-balls’ and ‘ wides’ are rather confusing to the eager but ignorant spectator, who desires to fathom the mysteries of the game.” A g a in , referring to maiden overs, the Post says:— “ A maiden over does not refer to a maiden over in the grand stand, but is when a bowler bowls an over of four or six balls, from which the batsman can earn no runs. This is con­ sidered a good result on the part of the bowler. These ‘ overs ’ in a long match necessarily consume time, but it has been found impracticable to abolish them.” I t is natural that the difficulties which beset a batsman should seem to be over­ whelming to one who was ignorant of the game, and the Post says:— “ The batsman must guard against all these dangers. He must, without leaving his ground, and avoiding ‘ leg before wicket,’ play the ball so that it will not strike his wicket and cannot be caught, and having hit it away, he can make a run or runs only if he can reach the goal before the ball is returned to the fielders and the wicket, to which he is running, put down. The ball is in play from the moment the bowler starts to deliver it until it is finally settled in his own or the wicket-keeper’s hands, and while in a comatose con­ dition no batsman can be put out. ” “ Comatose condii ion’ ’ is distinctly good. A fur th e r study of Mr. Coxhead’s article on “ Cricket at the Queen’s Accession,” in this month’s Badminton Magazine , to which reference has already been made in ‘ Gossip,’ makes one marvel the more at the enormous spread of the game since 1837. It would be fairly safe to say, remarks Mr. Coxhead, that from the beginning of May to the middle of September last year each issue of the Times devoted on an average at least one column to cricket news ; what the Times did some of the other daily papers did even more generously, and hardly a magazine, not specially limited in its objects, failed to supply its readers with articles on the subject. In the magazines of 1837 I find one allusion only to cricket, and that is an etymological one. The index for the Times for 1837 has five entries under the heading of cricket, on referring to which we find that two only of them are really concerned with the subject, and of these, one only is a record of the game. Two are descriptions of fetes held on Lord’s Ground, one being ‘ in aid of the Dispensary for Diseases of the Ear,’ and the attractions of the other were balloon ascents. An allusion to the smooth green turf alone suggests faintly MR. JOHN CBESWELL. (From a photo by Bond <Ss Co., Adelaide , •S',.4.)